Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 15, 1993                   TAG: 9310160303
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                 LENGTH: Short

SECRIST GETS NEIGHBORHOODS GROUP AWARD

``That's the first award we've ever given, and we may not ever give another one,'' said Tom Hunt, a member of the federation's steering committee.

Decals on town municipal vehicles say ``putting the citizens first,'' and Secrist has made that motto a reality, Hunt said.

``He has done so many different things, being proactive, seeing how government can better serve the community - which isn't the national reputation that government has,'' Hunt said.

Hunt said that Secrist met with the federation for the first time in February 1989. He said that the federation expressed to Secrist a sense that local citizens were not the town's first priority.

Within a year, that changed, Hunt said. Secrist returned thanks to the community. ``It truly is a privilege to work in a community like this, with such involved, progressive citizens.''

Residents of Blacksburg have kept the municipal employees ``on the cutting edge,'' he said.